


the german girl.

by HelenaKey



Category: The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (2015)
Genre: 1960s, Character Study, Cold War, Culture Shock, F/M, Implied Relationships, New York City, Post-Movie, Present Tense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-02
Updated: 2016-10-02
Packaged: 2018-08-19 01:54:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8184620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HelenaKey/pseuds/HelenaKey
Summary: Leaving home is never as easy as it seems.





	

She tells him that she's tired of everything. She's tired of going out and meeting people. Tired of New York City and its blinding neon lights; of the plainrides, the guns and the powder, and the strange world where the americans live in. He asks her why. She tells him that she doesn't know. 

Conversations are repeated. People always ask her, in english, if she is from Germany. When she says she is they smile. They are curious about her, until she tells them from which part of Germany she comes from. They stay silent, then; staring for a while. The brave ones ask her if things there are as bad as they show it in television. The others normally excuse themselves and make a quick exit.

At the question (awkward, but inevitable) of how she crossed the border, Gaby is always at a loss. She looks up at Illya, as if asking for help, and he frowns. He takes her hand, but it's just part of the act. She tells them that her husband found a job abroad and that made the paperwork easier. She wouldn't be there without him. That part is not necessarily a lie, and she knows it. 

Everytime she meets someone things go down this way. It's the same dialogue, with slight variations. Illya knows it because he's been there. He hasn't left her side ever since they came to New York. It's just for the job but he doesn't mind. She doesn't seem to mind either. By the end of the meetings most people tell her that she's lucky. All americans, eventually, seem compelled to tell her that. She doesn't feel lucky thought. 

For her, Germany is more than just a bad memory. It's her childhood home. It's her mother and her father, and all the people she loved. Her first doll, her first pair of shoes and her first diary. It's the first rearview she changed and the first motor she fixed. Her first kiss. Her first love. Her beginning, and her end.

No one seems to understand that. They just see death, hunger and fear in the place that, despite all the suffering it brought her, Gaby had learned to love. It doesn't seem fair. Illya understands how she feels like, but he doesn't know how to say it. He prefers to stay silent.

She's very close. Her small, tanned hands are gripping the sleeve of his jacket. She's not crying. Even now she looks prideful. Unbreakable. Her voice is low, thought, and her forehead is resting against Illya's left shoulder. 

While he listens to her, he thinks that it's the first time he sees something truly human in Gaby. Her lips are turned down, her cheeks are pink for the cold, and her small, brown eyes look sad. There are no walls around her. She speaks and for the first time he feels that she's not hiding anything. Despite the cold, he feels warm in the inside.

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by Stand By Me, Ben E. King.


End file.
